Road Trip From California to New York (Day 5)

Day 5 of our trip was looooong, and peaceful, with plenty to deserted landscapes to enjoy. Taking the picture below in the middle of the road was very special. I had to wait for some cars to pass by, and then I jumped on the yellow line with my camera. I felt like queen of the road for a few seconds, until I heard a car coming, then I felt like a tiny ant so I run away at the speed of light. Now I know how small animals feel about big roads.

Taking this picture below made me feel like a little ant again. Our car looked as tiny as a toy car. I started to visualize a giant hand coming down to pick up our car and taking it to who knows where. Fortunately that didn’t happen.

Before arriving in Santa Fe we stopped at this restaurant called Presciliano’s Cafe. There were only 4 customer over there, one was me and the other 3 were Natalie, Diego and Bill. The food was very good. I had one of the best tamales in the history of tamales.

Then we decided to go for a little walk when Natalie discovered the giant cigarette below. I felt like an ant again! Is there a giant around here? Nooooo!!!!

But upon closer examination we discovered that this was not a giant cigarette. What a relief!

After so many scares on the road, we finally arrived in Santa Fe. It was late at night so we didn’t have time to do much. But I did take this picture of a lamp with an embroidered heart in our hotel room. It was even more beautiful in person.

And finally, when we were already in bed, ready to enjoy a deserved rest, I started thinking about the desert and its magic. My friend Kirsten (she wrote a beautiful post about our encounter here) told me something very deep that I will never forget:

“Whenever you see signs of life in the desert, you can always know it took a lot of strength to flourish there.”

Going through the real desert makes me go back to the personal “desert” that I used to live in as a little girl. Some days were very sad, but I insisted on the positive, and as those little green sprouts in the picture above, I insisted on staying alive regardless of the environment. From now on, whenever I find myself in a difficult situation, I will visualize the desert and those little magic plants. No matter how hard the circumstances might be at any given time in our lives, there is always potential for new life.

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6 Comments

Hi Elsita,
I’m sorry I spelled your name wrong, I’ve been transposing letters all day long.
Perhaps I knew and worked with your doppleganger Elista many years ago, she was famous for compiling registrys, rolls, directories and enumerations. and I got cross purposed, confused.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

I love receiving your posts each morning as I wake up in my small seaside town on the tip of Africa. The blue of the skies in your picture seems impossible (although ours are pretty damn amazing as well … but not in this wet and grey winter). Thank you for sharing your wit and compassion so freely!

As I think on it, it seems to me a lot of your art deals with reaching within to create beauty on the outside…in getting to know you better, I appreciate more how strength and resilience are a part of this process. It’s more of a powerful force rather than a delicate thing, even if the beauty has its own delicacy.